Norton Internet Security 2010 in Software

Last year, Symantec set out to make Norton Internet Security one of the most lightweight suites on the market – and it did a commendable job. This year, the focus is back on features.

The big addition in Norton Internet Security 2010 is a new reputation engine, named Quorum. It works by automatically crosschecking your downloads and files against usage data collected from the millions of Norton installations across the globe. If it finds a program that’s not in common circulation – or one that’s hosted on a suspiciously new or remote server – it flags it up and advises you to steer clear until Symantec has had a chance to investigate it. It’s not a perfect system, but it offers more reassurance than most other suites.

Disappointingly, though, when it came to more traditional malware detection methods, Norton ranked behind our preferred Avira suite. When we set it to scan this month’s collection of malware it achieved a 90% detection rate – creditable, perhaps, but some way off Avira’s 98%.

It was a similar story with the firewall. The module made sensible decisions and deflected our attacks without demanding user input. But it did permit our attacking PC to at least confirm the existence of our test machine, leaving it slightly more at risk than with F-Secure, which made the system undetectable.

Besides Quorum, Norton’s 2010 suite introduces Safe Web, as seen in the latest edition of Norton 360. This browser-based system gives trust ratings to commercial websites, based on user reports and third-party business intelligence. Its ratings reflect concerns such as a site’s privacy and security policies, to help you decide whether to trust a given site with your personal details.

And there’s also a new performance log, which maintains a calendar of events such as software installations and malware scans. A log of CPU usage helps you track down greedy processes, while parental controls and a network security map round off the new toys.

Pleasingly, all these new features haven’t ruined Norton’s footprint: installing the software added just two seconds to boot time, plus 12 seconds of subsequent CPU activity. And a Vista system footprint of 613MB isn’t too hard to swallow at all.

The general layout is still a little confusing, with too many links and sub-panes. The three PC licence costs £10 more than Avira’s. And, as we’ve seen, Norton 2010’s scanning engine doesn’t detect as much as its rivals. All the same it’s a suite packed with genuinely useful features, and between Safe Web and Quorum it’s the best way we’ve seen to intercept online threats – even brand new ones – before they ever reach your machine.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith